The objective of successful fishing is to attract a fish to bait or lure placed upon a hook. When the fish strikes the bait and envelopes the hook in its mouth it is extremely desirable to set the hook in the mouth of the fish to cause the point of the hook to penetrate the flesh of the fish through a barb located on a shaft of the hook and snag the fish so that the fish may be drawn out of the water for retrieval.
However this objective is not easy to achieve because the hook may be released from the mouth of the fish if the fish takes only a few tentative tugs at the hook. This problem is particularly troublesome when fishing on a boat when two or more fishing rods are located in a suitable position on the boat and the fisherman must take particular attention to the situation if a fish has not firmly caught the hook in its mouth.
It is also known that fish are apt to bite or strike infrequently and the fisherman usually supports his fishing rod on a bank with the fishing line in the water and strolls around or sits down while watching the line for evidence of a strike. At the instant the fish rises to the bait as will be known by a jerking on the line the fisherman will make a dive to the rod in an endeavor to make the strike. It frequently happens however that by the time he has grasped the fishing rod the fish has got away on account of the instant manipulation that his required to make a strike.
GB 1448023 refers to a fish striking device adapted for attachment to a fishing rod having a fishing line which comprises a piston housed in a tubular housing or sleeve and there is further provided a helical spring in the tubular housing which is retained in a compressed state by the piston which has a catch associated therewith that has a hook for engaging the fishing line which retains the spring in the compressed state and thus the fishing line is maintained in a non-release position. However when a fish bites on the fishing line the catch is activated to release the fishing line which enables the piston to move to one end of the tubular housing. There is also provided a second hook mounted to the housing which also engages the fishing line in the non-release position but which is pivotally mounted to the housing and releases the fishing line when the piston moves to the release position.
DE 3148372 refers to a fishing rod having a base which contains a spring which after a fish bites the bait attached to a fishing line activates movement of the spring and a rod support and rod device moves from a starting position wherein the rod support and rod device are restrained by the spring to a release position whereby the caught fish moves out of the water together with the fishing line.
DE 102004015979 refers to a fishing rod holder having a square section tube having a pair of rod supports mounted thereto. A fishing line is held by a clamp and passes forwardly through a clip. The clip is mounted on a spring loaded lever system which releases the line when a fish bites and then catches the line again to strike.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,247 refers to an automatic fishhook setting device wherein a lever may be engaged by the tug of a fish strike on a fishing line to release the tension of a spring. The spring will then snap the line to set the fishhook in the fish. US Patent Publications 2007289195 and 2004016171 refer to similar subject matter wherein a spring biases a shaft to a non-release position. The shaft is released when a fish tugs on a lure or bait.
However a problem of the prior art discussed above was that such prior art was complicated in structure or was not user friendly. Thus for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,247 and US Patent Publications 2007289195 and 2004016171 were intended to function as an intermediate component between the fishing rod and fishhook and this did not appeal to many fishermen.
GB 1448023 as well as DE 3148372 and DE 102004015979 were also complicated in structure and this meant manufacture was relatively expensive. DE 3148372 was a specialised fishing rod and this could not be attached to a conventional fishing rod.